World Extreme Cagefighting on Thursday holds its final event in a history that spans nine-plus years and more than 50 events.

WEC 53, which airs live on Versus from Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz., promises to send the promotion out with a bang as two title fights hold major implications for a merger that will fold WEC talent into its parent promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

In a lightweight championship bout, current titleholder Ben Henderson defends his belt against challenger Anthony Pettis to determine the No. 1 contender for the UFC lightweight title. Additionally, the winner of a bantamweight title bout between current champion Dominick Cruz and challenger Scott Jorgensen will be recognized as the first UFC bantamweight champion.

As MMA promotions go, the WEC is a grandfather in the industry. Its first event was held June 30, 2001, at The Palace Indian Gaming Center in remote Lemoore, Calif., a venue that it would vacate six years later when Zuffa LLC, the parent company of the UFC, purchased the promotion and moved it to Las Vegas.

“WEC 1: Princes of Pain” featured a headlining bout between former UFC champion Dan Severn and Travis Fulton in what was actually the pair’s third bout together. Severn previously had submitted Fulton twice. This time, Fulton went the distance, though he ultimately lost a unanimous decision.

Seth Petruzelli, who would go on to knock out Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson in 14 seconds on national TV, submitted to 6-foot-10 Gan McGee in the co-main event.

Also appearing on the card was Leonard Garcia, who knocked out Victor Estrada with a head kick and would later go on to fight in some of the most electrifying fights in both the WEC and UFC.

The night prior to the event, Tito Ortiz changed over from middleweight champion to light heavyweight champion when he defeated Elvis Sinosec at UFC 33 in what was the third event under the promotion’s new ownership, Zuffa LLC.

A month prior, Wanderlei Silva’s reign of terror continued overseas in Japan when he knocked out Shungo Oyama at PRIDE 14.

Off all those who have competed in the WEC, Garcia remains the only active fighter on its roster with a link to its humble beginning, though he recently migrated back to the UFC earlier this month. The competitors on tomorrow’s WEC fight card bear little resemblance to their 2001 counterparts; the sport has evolved light years from where it was back then. The fights have gotten faster, the skill sets have grown deeper, and the money has gotten better (though it will pale in comparison to the potential earning power in the UFC).

Meanwhile, The Palace Indian Gaming Center has been renamed the Tachi Palace Hotel And Casino, and its fight series, Tachi Palace Fights, is chugging along with an upcoming eighth event.

It’s been a good ride for WEC General Manager Reed Harris, who started the promotion with former collegiate wrestler and fighter Scott Adams.

“When I started the WEC, we thought we’d maybe do one show,” Harris told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in an earlier interview. “To be sitting here today and have something that I was involved in become part of the biggest sports company in the world is very satisfying.

“It’s kind of like when your kids go to college. At first, you’re concerned, but then after they leave, it’s pretty great.”

As a reporter for “Full Contact Fighter,” I covered the WEC’s final show in Lemoore before the Zuffa purchase. “WEC 24: Full Force” was held outdoors in a smaller, pentagon-shaped cage and featured a half-dozen fighters who were either UFC vets or UFC-bound. The crowd was buzzing because UFC president Dana White was in attendance, and so was light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (though he was a consistent presence at events as a teammate of “The Pit” bantamweight Antonio Banuelos). Referee Herb Dean had just taken a ton of heat for his call at UFC 61, where Tito Ortiz pinned Ken Shamrock against the cage in the first round of their second bout and unloaded elbows that prompted him to step in and wave off the bout. Dean walked up to White and asked if the UFC could do some good PR on him. White didn’t blink.

“Listen to me; you’re the greatest [expletive] ref out there,” he said. With a few more expletives, he told Dean not to worry about the haters.

Also on the WEC 24 card, Rameau Thierry Sokodjou fought his third professional fight and suffered a brutal first-round knockout at the heavy hands of Brazilian Glover Teixeira. In his next fight, he would go on to score one of the biggest upsets in MMA history when he knocked out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at PRIDE’s second U.S. show.

A handful of UFC veterans absolutely destroyed their local counterparts on the WEC 24 card; Terry Martin, Justin Eilers and Justin Levens knocked their opponents into next week. The latter two sadly are no longer with us.

It was a great show back then, and it turned into an even greater show in the next four years. It will be missed.

Now, on to the fights.

Ben Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis

You couldn’t have picked a more pressure-filled situation for this lightweight title match between WEC champ Benson Henderson (12-1 MMA, 5-0 WEC) and challenger Anthony Pettis (11-1 MMA, 4-1 WEC).

The winner is guaranteed a title shot against the winner of an upcoming UFC championship bout between current champ Frankie Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard. The loser arrives in the UFC with a recent defeat. That’s got to weigh on the minds of both Henderson – who fights on home turf as a Glendale resident – and Pettis.

“I definitely try not to look too far ahead,” Henderson said. “I just take the fight that’s in front of me. At a certain point in your career, every fight is like the biggest fight of your life.

“There’s all sorts of pressure on you, a whole other level of pressure you haven’t yet experienced, and that’s just the next step in my career – getting used to that. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Pettis also is trying not to let the future dictate his present.

“For me it’s just focusing on the next fight, man,” he said. “Ben Henderson is the champ for a reason. He’s a good fighter, and I’ve got to get past him before I can even think about fighting in the UFC.

“But … when I heard the news of us – one of us – fighting the UFC champ, I was actually questioned, ‘How would you do against UFC guys?’” Now, how better to find out than fighting the (WEC) champ?”

Henderson is widely thought to have an advantage on the mat, though Pettis has matched his crisp striking skills with submissions that have stopped three of his five WEC opponents.

“The biggest thing I like about Anthony is that he gets better every fight,” Henderson said. “He improved his striking. He improved his takedown defense (and is) finishing his submissions as well. Everything else like that he does well. He gets better and doesn’t fold under pressure. I like that.”

Pettis said he’ll need to take control of the action early and keep momentum in his corner.

“To beat him, it’s just going to take me sticking to my game plan and make his takedowns tough then be unpredictable standing and just fight my fight,” he said. “If I let him fight his fight, it’s going to be a tough night. So I’ve got to watch out for everything he brings to the table. He’s impossible to predict.
“I mean, his submission defense is awesome. His guillotine is great. So it’s just – it’s going to be a tough fight and … it has all the makings for a great fight.”

In the matador corner is Cruz, who defends his title a third time after a belt-winning performance against Brian Bowles and subsequent points victory over Joseph Benavidez.

The San Diego-based champ has managed to stay classy with a high-pace, hard-to-hit style that confounds opponents in the cage. To win the newly minted UFC bantamweight belt, Cruz needs to contend with the charge of Jorgensen.

“The best way to explain Jorgensen is probably like a grimy fighter,” he said. “You know, he’s the kind of guy that when you hit him, he kind of gets more into the fight. And as each round goes on, he starts to feel more and more comfortable in the cage.

“In order for me to win this fight, I just need to do as I’ve done before: Take the pace of the fight, stay very mobile, very hard to find, and keep a high tempo and a high pace in every aspect. Just mix it up – high, low, high, low. I can work a lot of ground game, and I could take this fight wherever I need to. I’m very confident in any aspect in this fight.”

Jorgensen, who’s earned his title bid with five consecutive victories, seems just fine with his role as the bull and is prepared to get in Cruz’s face. He’s not impressed with the champ’s elusiveness.

“He finds a way to win, but … I feel it’s a very defensive style,” he said. “He uses his strikes to set up his movement – and his movement to set up his strikes. And in both ways, he tries to stay out of big exchanges. He tries to land quick and get out, but I don’t feel like they’re very effective strikes. They’re scoring points, but they don’t hurt. They don’t sit people down.

“I move forward, and I cut the cage off, and I have pressure on guys. It’s just going to be my fight from the first (bell) to the last.”